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about

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

Heather's Review

Beartown, by the author of A Man Called Ove, is a fantastic story. It’s set in a small fictional town with not much going for it, and a future that hinges on the success of the Junior Hockey team. The story includes with a perfect cast of characters, including the team’s aging senior coach, an intensely competitive junior coach, a GM...

About The Author

Carl Fredrik Backman is a Swedish columnist who grew up in Helsingborg. He has been writing for Helsingborgs Dagblad and Moore Magazine. He debuted in 2012 with the novel A Man Called Ove. He is also the author of My grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. Both were number one bestsellers in his native Sweden and have been publis...

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Reviews

Rated 3 out of
5 by
emmakong3 from
okthis is such a great book! I loved the plot, storyline, and everything in between!

Date published: 2017-09-20

Rated 3 out of
5 by
brynngreen92 from
ehthis was a respected, well written story, however I really had problems with some tropes and some parts just didn't seem genuine.

Date published: 2017-09-19

Rated 2 out of
5 by
juliag from
OkThis is a nice and quick read

Date published: 2017-09-18

Rated 4 out of
5 by
karebear851 from
yesSuch an inspiring and interesting read, simply could not put it down! Great job!

Date published: 2017-09-16

Rated 4 out of
5 by
juliag from
yesI enjoyed this book so much

Date published: 2017-09-16

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Cheryl from
Great BookI loved this book. At the beginning I wasn't sure that I could get into it but after that I couldn't put it down. A great story that you wanted to keep reading. The story and the characters are well developed. Makes you think about some issues and I found that it stuck with me after I was done. I would definitely recommend this book.

Date published: 2017-09-15

Rated 2 out of
5 by
samma6610 from
noThis has to be the weirdest book I have read. What a bunch of descriptive nonsense

Date published: 2017-09-11

Rated 4 out of
5 by
samma6610 from
yesquite insightful and overall enjoyable.

Date published: 2017-09-10

Rated 4 out of
5 by
vermariya775 from
yesquite insightful and overall enjoyable.

Date published: 2017-09-10

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Arthi from
PoignantBeautiful story, only improved by the multiple POV set up. Backman at his finest.

Date published: 2017-09-10

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Sharon from
A different readThis was a different read for me. I am happy that I went outside my comfort zone for this one. As a Canadian who grew up in a hockey town, I could relate to so much of what I was reading. There were so many great messages and individual stories in this book. A really great read

Date published: 2017-09-10

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Marc from
loved itFredrik Backman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His characters and storytelling are practically perfect. I can easily recommend this book to anyone.
There are so many different facets to this book. Questions of morality and loyalty, passion over logic, and right vs wrong. No path through the story is easy and no solution obvious. The background story of every character is perfectly developed and important in the fine tapestry the Backman weaves. You may be surprised to discover that a story about a little hockey town far away can make you think about how you approach life in general.
One final bit of awesomeness about this book. With some books you may reach the end having found one or two really great quotes. Well, when you read this, be prepared with a highlighter, page flags, etc. as almost every page has a fantastic quote that is worth remembering after the story is done.
Honestly, truthfully, literally . . . Backman is good, REALLY good!

Date published: 2017-09-09

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mikenzie from
Love it!This book was so amazing and so fast paced it seemed like I had only just begun reading and I was hungry for more! I've been reading other reviews and I definitely agree that this book has a very Thirteen reason why vibe to it however it is written in a way more appropriate for adults. Definitely recommend!

Date published: 2017-09-08

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Amanda from
Great book- highly recommendI loved reading this book. The characters were so realistic and the story was hard to put down.

Date published: 2017-09-07

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Janelle from
Good readI found the book long and at times during reading, I was questioning the mannnny great reviews on it, BUT at the end I ended up enjoying it and would recommend. #plumreview

Date published: 2017-09-07

Rated 2 out of
5 by
jolieg1 from
okIt was okay, but not on my recommendations.

Date published: 2017-09-07

Rated 2 out of
5 by
Astoria from
okIt was okay, but not on my recommendations.

Date published: 2017-09-06

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Kent from
Liked itVery well written. Especially liked the ending.

Date published: 2017-09-06

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Frank from
great novelI really enjoyed this - what a great story - it really makes you think!

Date published: 2017-08-29

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Artemis from
Great authorTugs at your heart. This authors book are great

Date published: 2017-08-28

Rated 5 out of
5 by
hoody from
nice read!not much of a hockey person but this book definitley got me hooked!

Date published: 2017-08-26

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Safyia from
sweetSeeing is believing, this has never been truer than in the pages of this book.

Date published: 2017-08-21

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Patty from
Slow But Worth ItStarted painfully slow, had to sit down a few times and motivate myself to read it. By the third time though, I was hooked. Strong middle and ending.

Date published: 2017-08-21

Rated 2 out of
5 by
JA51 from
Cliche all the wayI love this authors for Ove, but this was just such an overdone story line. There were some decent characters, but half the book felt like unnecessary back story, and it was hard to connbelieve ct with the most of the characters because they were so stereotypical. Just too easy.

Date published: 2017-08-20

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Nina from
Hard To Get Into But Worth ItThis book started off very slow with so many characters that were very hard to keep track of.
However, this book is more than just a "hockey" story. It is about relationships of all kinds. If you can stick with it after the slow start I think it is worth reading.

Date published: 2017-08-17

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Danielle from
Well Worth ItThis book for me started off very slow with countless characters that were very hard to keep track (I'm sure even at the end of the book I'm still not sure who everyone is). Despite the beginning being slightly exhausting I had read reviews so I knew I had to keep reading. There is a point in this book where the story completely took off and I could not put it down. Moral of this review, do not give up on this book it will not disappoint.

Date published: 2017-08-15

Rated 4 out of
5 by
bill from
I loved This!I bought this a Month ago and I'm so happy that I did!

Date published: 2017-08-13

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Christine from
Hard to get into, but the end ties everything inAt first I could not get into the book, but the more I read the more I learned to love the book. The characters really grew on me!

Date published: 2017-08-12

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Natasha from
GoodI liked this book #plumreview

Date published: 2017-08-11

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Patty from
Ups & DownsSubject matter is heavy. Characters are predictable and unrealistic, but I still found it entertaining.

Date published: 2017-08-11

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Person from
BoringBoring, pointless, not fun!

Date published: 2017-08-09

Rated 2 out of
5 by
Battle from
UnfullfilingOve meets Don Cherry.
Mostly predictable with cliched characters and storyline.
Expectations blunted by its tedious repetition.

Date published: 2017-08-04

Rated 4 out of
5 by
mreviews from
Tough subject but good readThe book covers a very difficult subject, but it is interesting and well written with good characters. I am not a big hockey fan and still really enjoyed it.

Date published: 2017-08-04

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Ayota from
It was okI thought it was a good plot just not for me.

Date published: 2017-08-01

Rated 5 out of
5 by
orchardofapples from
So good!Fredrik Backman is a great author with another great novel to show for it. If you're on the fence about whether or not to read Beartown, hear this: the description does NOT do this book justice. There is so much more than meets the eye

Date published: 2017-08-01

Rated 5 out of
5 by
DanA from
Backman is a class-act!This is definitely a serious departure from A Man Called Ove (which is one of my favourite novels).
This book was beautifully crafted and so incredibly heartbreaking. Backman addresses rape and rape culture with unparalleled sensitivity and grace, and with a tragic realism that will hit home for many - women in particular.
Backman demonstrates the pervasiveness of rape culture as well as the horrible things people do to each other rather than hold themselves and those they care about accountable for their actions. But he also demonstrates the strength, resiliency, and courage that we can still find even in the most unexpected of places.
I can't wait to read another Backman novel.

Date published: 2017-07-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
bookworm from
Small town Northern Ontario in your handsThe quirky style of the author was something I appreciated while reading a tough story. Growing up as a "puck bunny" in a small northern ON town where Hockey was the life-force, there was so much leaping off the pages that was parallel to my own teenaged years. It was kind of eerie that way, but a story that is sadly all too common, and untold for many young women and men. Bravo Mr. Backman!

Date published: 2017-07-28

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Narcisa from
Great novel, pick this up.Great novel, pick this up.

Date published: 2017-07-26

Rated 4 out of
5 by
mlledeejay from
Loved it!Beartown
by Fredrik Backman (Goodreads Author)
Read
My rating:
1 of 5 stars
2 of 5 stars
3 of 5 stars
[ 4 of 5 stars ]
5 of 5 stars
Oh man, this book should be mandatory reading for all hockey fans. The story takes place in Beartown, a small fictional Swedish town. We are introduced to numerous characters, some I fell in love with and some I hated. The story is written so beautifully and delicately. Dealing with something as serious as what transpires in this book is no easy feat, and Frederick Backman handles it perfectly and captures hockey culture. Even in Canada, young boys are treated like gods, simply because they can play hockey. In Beartown, the future of the town rests upon the results of their junior team; that's a huge weight for 17-year olds to carry. The culture surrounding hockey can be incredibly toxic, at all levels, and Backman captures that perfectly in this book. There's more to life than hockey and boys and men must be held accountable for their actions, but every woman in the world knows that isn't always what happens.

Date published: 2017-07-25

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Person from
TerribleWhat kind of name even is Bear Town, and the book is even worse!

Date published: 2017-07-25

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Heather_Reisman from
Heather's PickBeartown, by the author of A Man Called Ove, is a fantastic story. It’s set in a small fictional town with not much going for it, and a future that hinges on the success of the Junior Hockey team. The story includes with a perfect cast of characters, including the team’s aging senior coach, an intensely competitive junior coach, a GM who was born in the town, made it to the NHL, and returned home to rebuild the team, the town businessmen who fund the club, and of course the boys on the team. What unfolds is a gripping story where the star player on the team is accused of rape. This book got me right from the first paragraph. The writing is incredibly fluid and evocative. A truly great read.

Date published: 2017-07-21

Rated 3 out of
5 by
awesome from
i loved the bookit was so good the beginning was hard to get into but once i did it was worth it

Date published: 2017-07-19

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Omnum from
It was okay...I mean it's not the worst book I've ever read, but, to be honest I've read some books that have similar plots.

Date published: 2017-07-19

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Natalie from
Slow start but quickly gains steamAn up-close and personal view of a town that revolves around a junior hockey. We see how this impacts a variety of people in the community and what can happen when the players are put on a pedestal. The first few chapters were slow but keep reading because it's well worth it. The latter half was a page-turner.

Date published: 2017-07-18

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Jenn from
Loved this!As a hockey fan and a bookworm I couldn't ask for more. This book was everything to me. A beautiful and heartwarming story about more than just a hockey town!

Date published: 2017-07-18

Rated 5 out of
5 by
hkgan from
good read!Backman is a great writer and, more importantly, a great storyteller. This is a story of what happens in a small town, where hockey is the sole passion, when a player is accused of rape. The individual reactions are on point from both a literary and sociological standpoint. Backman has the ability to make the scenes and characters come alive. A fascinating read. I could not put this book down.

Date published: 2017-07-17

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Patty from
HauntingThis book will stay top of mind for weeks to some. A definite must read.

Date published: 2017-07-14

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Gary from
Long But A Very Good Read!I'll start by saying the second part of this book (around page 200) is the best part of the book. Things start going faster and it's very easy to get invested into the emotions of the characters.
I say the second part of the book is the best part, because I feel the first part is a long read filled with too many similar similarities between hockey and life. I really felt the author could have cut some of it out and still have a very effective story.
Although I liked the ending, I was hoping we'd have a better conclusion.
That said, the story and the characters are really easy to get emotionally invested into it and I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Date published: 2017-07-11

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Beea from
ToughInteresting but hard to get through.

Date published: 2017-07-06

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Beckett from
Would Make a Great Book-Club SelectionBeartown is more than a book about hockey - it's a story about the power of loss and silence and the profound impact it can have on a person's life moving forward. In addition, it's one of the best novels I've read that depicts organized sports' role in perpetuating rape culture and the strength it takes to challenge it. #plumreview

Date published: 2017-07-06

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Beckett from
Would Make a Great Book-Club SelectionBeartown is more than a book about hockey - it's a story about the power of loss and silence and the profound impact it can have on a person's life moving forward. In addition, it's one of the best novels I've read that depicts organized sports' role in perpetuating rape culture and the strength it takes to challenge it. #plumreview

Date published: 2017-07-06

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Beckett from
Would Make a Great Book-Club SelectionBeartown is more than a book about hockey - it's a story about the power of loss and silence and the profound impact it can have on a person's life moving forward. In addition, it's one of the best novels I've read that depicts organized sports' role in perpetuating rape culture and the strength it takes to challenge it. #plumreview

Date published: 2017-07-06

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Katrina from
Loved it!Really great summer read to get lost in!

Date published: 2017-07-05

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Kristi_Reilly from
Topical & Timeless"Because in the end that's all anyone can ask of another person. That we are prepared to admit that we don't know everything." I liked this book much more than Man Called Ove. If you've grown up in a hockey (or really any sort of sports) town, it will undoubtedly feel very familiar. For those who loved A Casual Vacancy this will be a perfect next read.

Date published: 2017-06-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
g33k from
AMAZING!LOVED THIS BOOK! couldn't put it down and read it in a day.

Date published: 2017-06-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
g33k from
AMAZING!LOVED THIS BOOK! couldn't put it down and read it in a day.

Date published: 2017-06-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Bookie from
Great Author!I loved all his books. The author writes about people like he has lived their lives, felt their pain, experienced their heartbreak. Every one of his books makes me laugh, smile and cry. The story focuses on a small town that lives Hockey. When they have to make a decision that separates hockey from reality, it divides the town. In the end, people do what they always do. They live their lives. Bruised and broken, but still alive. Highly recommended all his books.

Date published: 2017-06-26

Rated 5 out of
5 by
bookworm from
GOOD BOOKREMINDS ME A BIT OF MYSTERY ALASKA ENJOYED IT.

Date published: 2017-06-25

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Sabiha_Kamani from
Great!Slow to start but great read! lots of hockey talk and lots of depth to the story.

Date published: 2017-06-18

Rated 5 out of
5 by
James_Barnes from
A Darker Side of BackmanBear Town begins with a teenager putting a shotgun to the temple of another teenager and pulling the trigger. The novel promises to tell the story of how it came to this. Readers who have come to love Backman's humour and his astute insights into the foibles and endearing graces of humanity will encounter a much darker and more cautionary tale in this latest work. In the end it's the small acts of kindness, the courage to speak the truth, the nobility of the individual choosing to do good though fearing the consequences, and the love of family and friends that enable one to get out of bed each morning and face a new day. This novel will challenge your assumptions and shake your foundations but it will also restore your faith in humanity. A most rewarding read.

Date published: 2017-06-16

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Fkkk from
InspiringTerrific read about the struggles which arise in a small town and the determination if its citizens to keep a positive outlook on life.

Date published: 2017-06-11

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Sarah from
Great NovelThis book is more than just a "hockey" story. It is about relationships of all kinds and on all levels. This could easily have been set in a small town in Canada. Another wonderful book by this author. It is a long book but you won't regret it.

Date published: 2017-06-05

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Dawn from
Long but worth the readThis was a tough novel for me to rate. I had a very hard time getting into it. The first half of the story is very drawn out and there is an excessive amount of talk about hockey. While I understand the motivations of the author in providing all the hockey talk, I found it to be a bit too much. My rating is a 3 because I would give the first half of the story 2 stars, simply for being too long, and the second half I would give 4 stars, possibly even 4.5. The second half is worth the read. I have read 2 of 3 of Backman's previous works (loved Ove!) but this is definitely a different novel altogether. It tackles the difficult subject of rape, rape culture, victim blaming, and small community living. There are parts that are quite dark and yet they are offset by parts that are quite light. There are moments that will make you want to thrown the book in anger and yet other moments that are so heart warming and what you have come to expect from Backman. Overall, worth the read and I would recommend it with the stipulation that you must stick with it to get to the end. It is worth it!

Date published: 2017-05-23

Rated 5 out of
5 by
ennaid_ from
Must Read!This book is great - a captivating story that illustrates the harms of rape culture and aftermath of trauma. I couldn't put it down.

Date published: 2017-05-18

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Zelda from
Love it!!!Cannot put the book down! You get caught up right from the beginning! This is the 4th book from this author that i have read and have not been disappointed! Looking forward to many more.

Date published: 2017-05-17

Rated 5 out of
5 by
FIDA from
Amazing Story"Spellbinding...The suspense is relentless...Surprise follows surprise...The work of a profoundly gifted writer"

Date published: 2017-05-17

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Minnie from
On my list!Haven't read this book yet, but it is definitely at the top of my list. From what I've heard from others who have read it, its seems utterly enjoyable.

Date published: 2017-05-16

Rated 5 out of
5 by
cluesandreviews from
I loved it.Heart-wrenching, gut twisting and fast paced, I am still thinking about this book days after I completed it.
Set in a small, hockey town called Beartown, the novel opens with a bang. A teenager walks into the woods, fires a shotgun and everything changes. Backtracking several weeks, the scene is set leading to the events in the forest as we follow Beartown’s Junior hockey team preparing for their championship. Tensions run high. The star play is accused of rape. A girl is left in turmoil. A team crumbles.
During my reading I couldn't help but notice how this one really gave a Thirteen Reasons Why vibe, but more adult. There was something so ominous about the text. You are aware something bad is going to happen, the first pages prove it, but you are not privy to when or how. I was filled with anxiety and dread as I waited for the story to be told.
The thing that stood out for me about Beartown was how likeable all the characters were. There were so many characters, all incredibly unique and with completely different perspectives. The coach, the team’s GM, the players, the “puck bunnies”, the wives who get dragged along to the games, the mother’s who would rather die than see their children compromised. Every single character in this novel proved to be important.
There is something truly magical about the way that Fredrik Backman writes. This was my first experience with the author and I know that it will not be my last.
This novel is dark, but deliciously brilliant, if you want a novel that will stick with you, Beartown is an obvious choice.
5/5 stars. I think this may be a contender for my favourite book of 2017.

Date published: 2017-05-16

Rated 3 out of
5 by
CaddyB from
Hockey and small townsEnjoyable read, delves into dedication of sport, relationships and small towns borderline reads as a YA novel as I believe the teen years are depticted well throughout the novel.

Date published: 2017-05-12

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Vanda from
Quick ReadI really enjoyed this book very unexpected first time reading the author ... will definitely read again. Could not put down was a 2 night read. #plumreview

Date published: 2017-05-08

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Antonello from
TerrificWonderful book to read, I loved it.

Date published: 2017-05-08

Rated 4 out of
5 by
ReadingMonster from
Good BookThis book is well written and cleverly thought out. The only down side is that I felt like I was reading it forever

Date published: 2017-05-06

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Julie from
Beartown by Fredrik BackmanThere is so much more to this story that seemingly appears solely devoted to hockey. There is devotion, single-minded devotion, like a religion, a way of life. One can find similar devotion in other areas of life, other sports, other avenues like reading, or television or video games, but those don’t lend themselves to participation with others, groups of people. An entire town.

Date published: 2017-05-03

Rated 5 out of
5 by
portelance from
Could not put it downLoved this book so much. I've read his other book A man called Ove, and now have plans to buy his other books. Great author.

Date published: 2017-04-30

Rated 5 out of
5 by
FIDA from
Inspiringi loved reading this book, I would definitely recommend. :)

Date published: 2017-04-29

Rated 4 out of
5 by
platoon77 from
Small TownI grew up playing hockey my whole life and within a small town. I could relate to almost everything, the need to win, the politics, the players commitments to one another. How you get lost within the small town because that is the only thing you have known your whole life. Its crazy how much I could relate to the book. As someone else has written you could easily substitute the sport for another, to everything that has also lived in a small town can relate.
It's easy for you when living in a small town to feel trapped within its country limits. I also was like that, no one ever leaves but when people do they always find there way back to the town.
I loved the book, after about half way through I wasn't to sure I would be able to make it through the novel, but made my way through and was not disappointed by the ending. It's a relatable book for anyone that has grown up in a small town or village and someone was is in love with a sport they have played their entire lives.
Give it a read, you will understand why people sometimes can never leave the small town life behind and why some people need to get the hell out of there.

Date published: 2017-04-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Luanne_Ollivier from
So very, very good....Fredrik Backman's books have always affected me - made me laugh, made me cry and made me think. A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here are my two favourites. His newest book, Beartown, has just released. And it is a powerful and compelling read.
Beartown's opening chapter makes it impossible to not keep reading....
"Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger. This is the story of how we got there."
Beartown is a small town nestled deep in the forest. What you must know is that Beartown is a hockey town. The residents (well most of them) live and breathe hockey. They have their hopes pinned on the junior team. They've made it to the semi finals. But if they win - it could mean new hope for the dying town - jobs, a new rink, tourism, a hockey school, a shopping centre - and hope.
"We need to feel, just once, that we're the best. I know it's a game. But that's not all it is. Not always."
Backman excels at characterizations. But the scope of Beartown is simply amazing. There are a core group of players and their families, but the supporting cast is just as well fleshed out. Every character in Beartown has a story. The setting is just as much a player as well. I could hear the pucks, feel the cold and picture the trees.
It is impossible not to be drawn into the story of Beartown. As we come to know the characters, it is their attitudes, outlooks, plans, schemes and dreams that drive the story forward. Forward to that first chapter.
An ugly event occurs that changes the lives of the players, their families and the townsfolk forever. Part two deals with the fallout from that event. As I mentioned, Backman's books make the reader feel - and again I was moved to tears, shaking my fist in anger and my head in disgust. I wanted so badly to skip to the last chapter to see what ending and resolution Backman had planned, but I managed not to. And I am glad I didn't - for it's all about storytelling in Beartown. To know the ending and not the path there would have robbed me of a fantastic read.
There are so many moments, truths and 'aha's' throughout Beartown. Although hockey is the focus of this book, you could easily substitute another sport - football comes to mind. And the question should be in every reader's thoughts - what price is too high to ensure a win?
From the book..."Why does anyone care about hockey? Because it tells stories." With Beartown, Backman tells one heck of a story.

Date published: 2017-04-25

Rated 4 out of
5 by
gold from
lovely book,i loved reading this book, I would definitely recommend. :)

Date published: 2017-04-25

Extra Content

Read from the Book

1 Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead and pulled the trigger. This is the story of how we got there. 2 Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. It’s a Friday in early March in Beartown and nothing has happened yet. Everyone is waiting. Tomorrow, the Beartown Ice Hockey Club’s junior team is playing in the semifinal of the biggest youth tournament in the country. How important can something like that be? In most places, not so important, of course. But Beartown isn’t most places. Bang. Bang. Bang-bang-bang. The town wakes early, like it does every day; small towns need a head start if they’re going to have any chance in the world. The rows of cars in the parking lot outside the factory are already covered with snow; people are standing in silent lines with their eyes half-open and their minds half-closed, waiting for their electronic punch cards to verify their existence to the clocking-in machine. They stamp the slush off their boots with autopilot eyes and answering-machine voices while they wait for their drug of choice—caffeine or nicotine or sugar—to kick in and render their bodies at least tolerably functional until the first break. Out on the road the commuters set off for bigger towns beyond the forest; their gloves slam against heating vents and their curses are the sort you only think of uttering when you’re drunk, dying, or sitting in a far-too-cold Peugeot far too early in the morning. If they keep quiet they can hear it in the distance: Bang-bang-bang. Bang. Bang. Maya wakes up and stays in bed, playing her guitar. The walls of her room are covered in a mixture of pencil drawings and tickets she’s saved from concerts she’s been to in cities far from here. Nowhere near as many as she would have liked, but considerably more than her parents actually consented to. She loves everything about her guitar—its weight against her body, the way the wood responds when her fingertips tap it, the strings that cut hard against her skin. The simple notes, the gentle riffs—it’s all a wonderful game to her. She’s fifteen years old and has already fallen in love many times, but her guitar will always be her first love. It’s helped her to put up with living in this town, to deal with being the daughter of the general manager of an ice hockey team in the forest. She hates hockey but understands her father’s love for it; the sport is just a different instrument to hers. Her mom sometimes whispers in her daughter’s ear: “Never trust people who don’t have something in their lives that they love beyond all reason.” Her mom loves a man who loves a place that loves a game. This is a hockey town, and there are plenty of things you can say about those, but at least they’re predictable. You know what to expect if you live here. Day after day after day. Bang. Beartown isn’t close to anything. Even on a map the place looks unnatural. “As if a drunk giant tried to piss his name in the snow,” some might say. “As if nature and man were fighting a tug-of-war for space,” more high-minded souls might suggest. Either way, the town is losing. It has been a very long time since it won at anything. More jobs disappear each year, and with them the people, and the forest devours one or two more abandoned houses each season. Back in the days when there were still things to boast about, the city council erected a sign beside the road at the entrance to the town with the sort of slogan that was popular at the time: “Beartown—Leaves You Wanting More!” The wind and snow took a few years to wipe out the word “More.” Sometimes the entire community feels like a philosophical experiment: If a town falls in the forest but no one hears it, does it matter at all? To answer that question you need to walk a few hundred yards down toward the lake. The building you see there doesn’t look like much, but it’s an ice rink, built by factory workers four generations ago, men who worked six days a week and needed something to look forward to on the seventh. All the love this town could thaw out was passed down and still seems to end up devoted to the game: ice and boards, red and blue lines, sticks and pucks and every ounce of determination and power in young bodies hurtling at full speed into the corners in the hunt for those pucks. The stands are packed every weekend, year after year, even though the team’s achievements have collapsed in line with the town’s economy. And perhaps that’s why— because everyone hopes that when the team’s fortunes improve again, the rest of the town will get pulled up with it. Which is why places like this always have to pin their hopes for the future on young people. They’re the only ones who don’t remember that things actually used to be better. That can be a blessing. So they’ve coached their junior team with the same values their forebears used to construct their community: work hard, take the knocks, don’t complain, keep your mouth shut, and show the bastards in the big cities where we’re from. There’s not much worthy of note around here. But anyone who’s been here knows that it’s a hockey town. Bang. Amat will soon turn sixteen. His room is so tiny that if it had been in a larger apartment in a well-to-do neighborhood in a big city, it would barely have registered as a closet. The walls are completely covered with posters of NHL players, with two exceptions. One is a photograph of himself aged seven, wearing gloves that are too big for him and with his helmet halfway down his forehead, the smallest of all the boys on the ice. The other is a sheet of white paper on which his mother has written parts of a prayer. When Amat was born, she lay with him on her chest in a narrow bed in a little hospital on the other side of the planet, no one but them in the whole world. A nurse had whispered the prayer in his mother’s ear back then—it is said to have been written on the wall above Mother Teresa’s bed—and the nurse hoped it would give the solitary woman strength and hope. Almost sixteen years later, the scrap of paper is still hanging on her son’s wall, the words mixed up, but she wrote them down as well as she could remember them: If you are honest people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway. Amat sleeps with his skates by his bed every night. “Must have been one hell of a birth for your poor mother, you being born with those on,” the caretaker at the rink often jokes. He’s offered to let the boy keep them in a locker in the team’s storeroom, but Amat likes carrying them there and back. Wants to keep them close. Amat has never been as tall as the other players, has never been as muscular as them, has never shot as hard. But no one in the town can catch him. No one on any team he’s encountered so far has been as fast as him. He can’t explain it; he assumes it’s a bit like when people look at a violin and some of them just see a load of wood and screws where others see music. Skates have never felt odd to him. On the contrary, when he sticks his feet in a pair of normal shoes he feels like a sailor stepping ashore. The final lines his mother wrote on the sheet of paper on his wall read as follows: What you create, others can destroy. Create anyway. Because in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and anyone else anyway. Immediately below that, written in red crayon in the determined handwriting of a primary school student, it says: They say Im to little to play. Become good player any way! Bang. Once upon a time, Beartown Ice Hockey’s A-team—one step above the juniors—was second-best in the top division in the country. That was more than two decades and three divisions ago, but tomorrow Beartown will be playing against the best once more. So how important can a junior game be? How much can a town care about the semifinal a bunch of teenagers are playing in a minor-league tournament? Not so much, of course. If it weren’t this particular dot on the map. A couple of hundred yards south of the road sign lies “the Heights,” a small cluster of expensive houses with views across the lake. The people who live in them own supermarkets, run factories, or commute to better jobs in bigger towns where their colleagues at staff parties wonder, wide-eyed: “Beartown? How can you possibly live that far out in the forest?” They reply something about hunting and fishing, proximity to nature, but these days almost everyone is asking themselves if it is actually possible. Living here any longer. Asking themselves if there’s anything left, apart from property values that seem to fall as rapidly as the temperature. Then they wake up to the sound of a bang. And they smile. 3 For more than ten years now the neighbors have grown accustomed to the noises from the Erdahl family’s garden: bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. Then a brief pause while Kevin collects the pucks. Then bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. He was two and a half years old the first time he put a pair of skates on, three when he got his first stick. When he was four he was better than the five-year-olds, and when he was five he was better than the seven-year-olds. During the winter following his seventh birthday he got such a bad case of frostbite that if you stand close enough to him you can still see the tiny white marks on his cheekbones. He had played his first proper game that afternoon, and in the final seconds missed a shot on an open goal. The Beartown youngsters won 12–0, and Kevin scored all the goals, but he was inconsolable. Late that evening his parents discovered that he wasn’t in his bed, and by midnight half the town was out searching for him in the forest. Hide-and-seek isn’t a game in Beartown—a young child doesn’t have to stray far to be swallowed up by the darkness, and a small body doesn’t take long to freeze to death in thirty degrees below zero. It wasn’t until dawn that someone realized the boy wasn’t among the trees but down on the frozen lake. He had dragged a net and five pucks down there, as well as all the flashlights he could find, and had spent hour after hour firing shots from the same angle from which he had missed the final shot of the match. He sobbed uncontrollably as they carried him home. The white marks never faded. He was seven years old, and everyone already knew that he had the bear inside him. That sort of thing can’t be ignored. His parents paid to have a small rink of his own constructed in the garden. He shoveled it himself every morning, and each summer the neighbors would exhume puck-graveyards in their flowerbeds. Remnants of vulcanized rubber will be found in the soil around there for generations to come. Year after year they have heard the boy’s body grow—the banging becoming harder and harder, faster and faster. He’s seventeen now, and the town hasn’t seen a player with anything close to his talent since the team was in the top division, before he was born. He’s got the build, the hands, the head, and the heart. But above all he’s got the vision: what he sees on the ice seems to happen more slowly than what everyone else sees. You can teach a lot about hockey, but not that. You’re either born with that way of seeing or you aren’t. “Kevin? He’s the real deal,” Peter Andersson, general manager of the club, always says, and he ought to know: the last person in Beartown who was as good as this was Peter himself, and he made it all the way to Canada and the NHL, matching up against the best in the world. Kevin knows what it takes; everyone’s been telling him ever since he first stood on a pair of skates. It’s going to demand nothing less than his all. So every morning, while his classmates are still fast asleep under their warm comforters, he goes running in the forest, and then he stands here, bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. Collects the pucks. Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. Collects the pucks. Practices with the junior team every afternoon, and with the A-team every evening, then the gym, then another run in the forest, and one final hour out here under the glare of the floodlights specially erected on the roof of the house. This sport demands only one thing from you. Your all. Kevin has had every sort of offer to move to the big teams, to attend hockey school in a bigger town, but he keeps turning them down. He’s a Beartown man, his dad’s a Beartown man, and that may not mean a thing anywhere else, but it means something here. So how important can the semifinal of a junior tournament be? Being the best junior team around would remind the rest of the country of this place’s existence again. And then the politicians might decide to spend the money to establish a hockey school here instead of over in Hed, so that the most talented kids in this part of the country would want to move to Beartown instead of the big cities. So that an A-team full of homegrown players could make it to the highest division again, attract the biggest sponsors once more, get the council to build a new rink and bigger roads leading to it, maybe even the conference center and shopping mall they’ve been talking about for years. So that new businesses could appear and create more jobs so that the townspeople might start thinking about renovating their homes instead of selling them. It would only be important to the town’s economy. To its pride. To its survival. It’s only so important that a seventeen-year-old in a private garden has been standing here since he got frostbite on his cheeks one night ten years ago, firing puck after puck after puck with the weight of an entire community on his shoulders. It means everything. That’s all. On the other side of Beartown from the Heights, north of the road signs, is the Hollow. In between, the center of Beartown consists of row houses and small homes in a gently declining scale of middleclassness, but here in the Hollow there are nothing but blocks of rental apartments, built as far away from the Heights as possible. At first the names of these neighborhoods were nothing but unimaginative geographic descriptions: the Hollow is lower than the rest of the town, where the ground slopes away toward an old gravel pit. The Heights are on the hillside overlooking the lake. But after the residents’ finances divided along similar lines, the names came to signify differences in class as much as in districts. Even children can see that the farther away you live from the Hollow, the better things will be for you. Fatima lives in a two-room apartment almost at the end of the Hollow. She drags her son out of bed with gentle force; he grabs his skates and soon they’re alone on the bus, not speaking. Amat has perfected a system of moving his body without his head actually having to wake up. Fatima affectionately calls him “The Mummy.” When they first reach the rink, she changes into her cleaner’s uniform and he tries to help her pick up the garbage in the stands until she shouts at him and drives him off and he goes to find the caretaker. The boy is worried about his mom’s back, and she worries that other children will see him with her and tease him. As long as Amat can remember, the two of them have been alone in the world. When he was little he used to collect empty beer cans from the stands at the end of the month to get the deposit back on them. Sometimes he still does. He helps the caretaker every morning, unlocking doors and checking lights, sorting out the pucks and driving the zamboni, getting the rink ready for the day. First to show up will be the figure skaters, in the most antisocial time-slots. Then all the hockey teams, one after the other in order of rank. The best times are reserved for the juniors and the A-team. The junior team is now so good it’s almost at the top of the hierarchy. Amat isn’t on the junior team yet, he’s only fifteen, but maybe next season. If he does everything that’s demanded of him. One day he’ll take his mom away from here, he’s sure of that. One day he’ll stop adding and subtracting income and expenditures in his head all the time. There’s an obvious difference between the children who live in homes where the money can run out and the ones who don’t. How old you are when you realize that also makes a difference. Amat knows his options are limited, so his plan is simple: from here to the junior team, then the A-team, then professional. When his first wages reach his account he’ll grab that cleaning cart from his mother and never let her see it again. He’ll allow her aching fingers to rest and give her aching back a break. He doesn’t want possessions. He just wants to lie in bed one single night without having to count. The caretaker taps Amat on the shoulder when his chores are done and passes him his skates. Amat puts them on, grabs his stick, and goes out onto the empty ice. That’s the deal: the caretaker gets help with the heavy lifting and tricky swing-doors that his rheumatism makes difficult and—as long as Amat floods the ice again after he practices— he can have the rink to himself for an hour before the figure skaters arrive. Those are the best sixty minutes of his day, every day. He puts in his earphones, cranks the volume as loud as it will go, then sets off with speed. Across the ice, so hard into the boards at the other end that his helmet smacks the glass. Full speed back again. Again. Again. Again. Fatima looks up briefly from her cart, allows herself a few moments in which to watch her son out there. The caretaker catches her eye, and she mouths the word, “Thanks.” The caretaker merely nods and conceals a smile. Fatima remembers how odd she thought it when the club’s coaches first told her that Amat had exceptional talent. She only understood snippets of the language back then, and the fact that Amat could skate when he could barely walk was a divine mystery to her. Many years have passed since then, and she still hasn’t got used to the cold in Beartown, but she has learned to love the town for what it is. And she will never find anything in her life more unfathomable than the fact that the boy she gave birth to in a place that has never seen snow was born to play a sport on ice. In one of the smaller houses in the center of town, Peter Andersson, general manager of Beartown Ice Hockey, gets out of the shower, red-eyed and breathless. He’s hardly slept, and the water hasn’t managed to rinse his nerves away. He’s been sick twice. He hears Kira bustle past the bathroom out in the hall, on her way to wake the children, and he knows exactly what she’s going to say: “For heaven’s sake, Peter, you’re over forty years old. When the GM is more nervous about a junior game than the players, maybe it’s time to take a tranquilizer, have a drink and just calm down a bit!” The Andersson family has lived here for more than a decade now, since they moved back home from Canada, but he still hasn’t managed to get his wife to understand what hockey means in Beartown. “Seriously? You don’t think all you grown men are getting a bit too excited?” Kira has been asking all season. “The juniors are seventeen years old, practically still children!” He kept quiet at first. But late one night he told her the truth: “I know it’s only a game, Kira. I know. But we’re a town in the middle of the forest. We’ve got no tourism, no mine, no high-tech industry. We’ve got darkness, cold, and unemployment. If we can make this town excited again, about anything at all, that has to be a good thing. I know you’re not from round here, love, and this isn’t your town, but look around: the jobs are going, the council’s cutting back. The people who live here are tough, we’ve got the bear in us, but we’ve taken blow after blow for a long time now. This town needs to win at something. We need to feel, just once, that we’re best. I know it’s a game. But that’s not all it is. Not always.” Kira kissed his forehead hard when he said that, and held him tight, whispering softly in his ear: “You’re an idiot.” Which, of course, he knows. He leaves the bathroom and knocks on his fifteen-year-old daughter’s door until he hears her guitar answer. She loves her guitar, not sports. Some days that makes him feel sad, but on plenty more days he’s happy for her. Maya is still lying in bed, and plays louder when the knocking starts and she hears her parents outside the door. A mom with two university degrees who can quote the entire criminal code, but who could never say what icing or offside meant even if she was on trial. A dad who in return could explain every hockey strategy in great detail, but can’t watch a television show with more than three characters without exclaiming every five minutes: “What’s happening now? Who’s that? What do you mean, be quiet? Now I missed what they said . . . can we rewind?” Maya can’t help both laughing and sighing when she thinks of that. You never want to get away from home as much as you do when you’re fifteen years old. It’s like her mom usually says when the cold and darkness have worn away at her patience and she’s had three or four glasses of wine: “You can’t live in this town, Maya, you can only survive it.” Neither of them has any idea just how true that is.